Depending on exposure and habitat this species may be very variable in size and shape. Rhizome widely creeping, 5-8 mm in diameter; rhizome scales pale to dark brown, deltate-ovate to lanceolate, margin entire or with filiform outgrows. Fronds simple, closely space apart, erect or arching, herbaceous to coriaceous, weakly to strongly dimorphic. Sterile fronds: stipe up to 15 cm long, brown to stramineous when dry, grooved ventrally, articulated near the base, glabrous to lightly set with entire, pale brown scales; stipe of sterile fronds on average half as long as that of fertile fronds. Sterile lamina obovate to elliptic to lanceolate in outline, apex rounded, base tapering, 3-35 × 1-3.6 cm, dark green and glabrous above, paler and with a few dot-like scales below, margin entire to wavy. Fertile fronds: same shape and length as sterile fronds but with a longer stipe and a smaller lamina. Sporangia covering the undersurface of the lamina except for the midrib.